8 THINGS THAT YOU SHOULD DO EVERY SINGLE DAY

1. Make your bed
Fluffed pillows are more than pretty — the sheer act of making the bed can set you up for success. “You start your day with a tiny, but real, accomplishment,” says Gretchen Rubin, author of Happier at Home. And in a huge survey, 71% of bed-makers described themselves as happy compared with 62 percent of non-bed-makers.

2. Moisturize
This is how you get people to say, “You’re too young to have kids that grown-up!” A study found that someone with well-hydrated skin will develop wrinkles as she ages, of course, but with dry skin, she’ll develop almost twice as many. Apply moisturizer morning and night.

3. Give a compliment
Like your barista’s earrings? Tell her — you’ll both have a better day. “Being altruistic boosts your mood,” says Shana Cole, who studies the effects of compliments at New York University. It works best if you’re sincere: “Make sure compliments have legitimately been earned,” Cole says.

4. Take a lunch break
A third of us eat at our desks, but wolfing down a sandwich in front of PowerPoint is a waste of a turkey club. In a study, people who had a leisurely meal with others later reported feeling more relaxed and able to think more freely. Eating alone is fine, says Nancy Rothbard, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania: “Just don’t spend your hour on errands. You have to get away from your to-do list to benefit from the break.”

5. Drink more water
Any dehydration can affect your mood, energy level, and ability to think clearly, according to two studies from the University of Connecticut. “Women who were slightly dehydrated also reported tasks to be harder and found it more difficult to concentrate,” says Lawrence E. Armstrong, one of the studies’ lead authors. Keep a bottle of water nearby.

6. Lay out your gym clothes at night
It’s a lot harder to blow off your a.m. workout if you wake up to your running shoes staring you in the face. It’s also practical: “You can waste valuable time tracking down socks from the laundry,” says Los Angeles–based trainer Gunnar Peterson, who has trained Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez, and others.

7. Set up a no-phone zone
Create this simple rule in your house: No smartphones in the kitchen while you’re cooking or eating. “These are the places we come together to have conversations,” says Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT and the author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other.

8. Go out and have some fun
Nobody has time for a drink with the girls every night, but consider this: People who lack social connections suffer from risk factors equivalent to about 15 cigarettes a day, new research found. A fix? Just reach out — in any way — to someone you care about, even if you don’t have a burning reason to connect with them right this minute.